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Barack Obama speaks about national security Thursday at the National Archives.
AP Photo

These are extraordinary times for our country. We're confronting a historic economic crisis. We're fighting two wars. We face a range of challenges that will define the way that Americans will live in the 21st century. So there's no shortage of work to be done, or responsibilities to bear.

And we've begun to make progress. Just this week, we've taken steps to protect American consumers and homeowners, and to reform our system of government contracting so that we better protect our people while spending our money more wisely. (Applause.) The -- it's a good bill. (Laughter.) The engines of our economy are slowly beginning to turn, and we're working towards historic reform on health care and on energy. I want to say to the members of Congress, I welcome all the extraordinary work that has been done over these last four months on these and other issues.

In the midst of all these challenges, however, my single most important responsibility as President is to keep the American people safe. It's the first thing that I think about when I wake up in the morning. It's the last thing that I think about when I go to sleep at night.

And this responsibility is only magnified in an era when an extremist ideology threatens our people, and technology gives a handful of terrorists the potential to do us great harm. We are less than eight years removed from the deadliest attack on American soil in our history. We know that al Qaeda is actively planning to attack us again. We know that this threat will be with us for a long time, and that we must use all elements of our power to defeat it.

Already, we've taken several steps to achieve that goal. For the first time since 2002, we're providing the necessary resources and strategic direction to take the fight to the extremists who attacked us on 9/11 in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We're investing in the 21st century military and intelligence capabilities that will allow us to stay one step ahead of a nimble enemy. We have re-energized a global non-proliferation regime to deny the world's most dangerous people access to the world's deadliest weapons. And we've launched an effort to secure all loose nuclear materials within four years. We're better protecting our border, and increasing our preparedness for any future attack or natural disaster. We're building new partnerships around the world to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda and its affiliates. And we have renewed American diplomacy so that we once again have the strength and standing to truly lead the world.

These steps are all critical to keeping America secure. But I believe with every fiber of my being that in the long run we also cannot keep this country safe unless we enlist the power of our most fundamental values. The documents that we hold in this very hall -- the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights -- these are not simply words written into aging parchment. They are the foundation of liberty and justice in this country, and a light that shines for all who seek freedom, fairness, equality, and dignity around the world.

I stand here today as someone whose own life was made possible by these documents. My father came to these shores in search of the promise that they offered. My mother made me rise before dawn to learn their truths when I lived as a child in a foreign land. My own American journey was paved by generations of citizens who gave meaning to those simple words -- "to form a more perfect union." I've studied the Constitution as a student, I've taught it as a teacher, I've been bound by it as a lawyer and a legislator. I took an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution as Commander-in-Chief, and as a citizen, I know that we must never, ever, turn our back on its enduring principles for expedience sake.

I make this claim not simply as a matter of idealism. We uphold our most cherished values not only because doing so is right, but because it strengthens our country and it keeps us safe. Time and again, our values have been our best national security asset -- in war and peace; in times of ease and in eras of upheaval.

Fidelity to our values is the reason why the United States of America grew from a small string of colonies under the writ of an empire to the strongest nation in the world.

It's the reason why enemy soldiers have surrendered to us in battle, knowing they'd receive better treatment from America's Armed Forces than from their own government.

It's the reason why America has benefitted from strong alliances that amplified our power, and drawn a sharp, moral contrast with our adversaries.

It's the reason why we've been able to overpower the iron fist of fascism and outlast the iron curtain of communism, and enlist free nations and free peoples everywhere in the common cause and common effort of liberty.

From Europe to the Pacific, we've been the nation that has shut down torture chambers and replaced tyranny with the rule of law. That is who we are. And where terrorists offer only the injustice of disorder and destruction, America must demonstrate that our values and our institutions are more resilient than a hateful ideology.

After 9/11, we knew that we had entered a new era -- that enemies who did not abide by any law of war would present new challenges to our application of the law; that our government would need new tools to protect the American people, and that these tools would have to allow us to prevent attacks instead of simply prosecuting those who try to carry them out.

He's on very solid ground, legally and morally, and I certainly agree with him on that. Wherever possible, these prisoners should receive due process and their day in court, just like any others. We granted that much to Herman Goering and Hideki Tojo after World War II, and their crimes were the greatest in history up to that time. We granted due process to thousands of war criminals in Germany and Japan, and I could sit on here forever listing the atrocious crimes they committed. Some of them were acquitted, some were released without charges, and some were never charged at all, even though in both of those countries there were huge numbers of people, both military and civilian, who had committed the worst crimes imaginable. There is certainly no one worse than them sitting down there in Guantanamo.

So I agree with Obama that let's just put as many of these Guantanamo prisoners on trial as possible, and make sure that they receive full due process. If they are acquitted, fine, and if they are convicted, send them to the appropriate prisons in the US--segregated from the rest of the prison population as necessary. If they are sentenced to death, then execute them. If they have committed no crimes, then let them go. That should take care of almost all of the problem.

It sounded more like the teleprompters speech. I am not sure Obama can speak for on occasion, I hear him mumble ah, eh, er, um and figure that is his real style of speaking. When Obama speaks with comprehension, I figure it is the teleprompter telling Obama what to say.

Obama, seems to be little more than a news reader on CNN, devoid of brains, commons sense or feelings and more like a UAW Autos robot.

Mr. Cheney should have charged the president for the lessons in history, national defense, and Constitutional Law! Cheney stated facts and specifics as opposed to this young, inexperienced, and most self-righteous president who concentrated on rhetoric and grandstanding! Thank God Cheney and not Obama was in office on 9/11!!!

I've decided that this man is clueless. He probably didn't study history when growing up. He hung with radicals during law school and was constantly on the defensive during his election. Every time someone on the news tried to pin a radical to Obama they suddenly ram from sight and said nothing. Once when one of O'Reilly's men tried to talk to Ayers not only did he not talk, but after getting into his house, called the cops on the guy. Amazing that those who would bomb a police precinct would later call the police, het when 9/11 happened he commented that in his youngest years he should have done more. So was 9/11 really important to this guy? Why should I listen to our new President when he has to completely rely on teleprompters and seems to say the same things with a different twist each time. A waste of time. Finally, who cares that Notre Dame gave him an honorary doctorate? Let all the universities give him those...they're a dime a dozen. If radicals such a Bill Ayers and weirdo Ward Churchill hold tenure in major universities, should we be surprised that a nothing doctorate be given a radical president?

We granted that much to Herman Goering and Hideki Tojo after World War II, and their crimes were the greatest in history up to that time.

You are making the other sides point. After the war ended. This war is still going on. And it is a war. Just because he have not been hit again, it isn't because they decided to pack up shop and leave us alone. This is uncharted terrority, that is why it is so difficult. It isn't as black and white as previous wars.

Obama's speech was elitist and narcissistic, and as he read it from the teleprompters, the tone was monotonous and had the air of feigned anger and indignation that someone would actually dare question him and hold him accountable for his words and actions. His Majesty did not appear to be a very happy camper.